Section 9. Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Communities

Learn how resolve and use conflict to build capacity of groups to develop alliances.

 

• What is conflict transformation?

• Why is transforming conflicts in diverse communities important?

• How can conflicts be transformed?

• What are some of the challenges in transforming conflicts?

What is conflict transformation?

Conflicts are natural parts of our lives. Some people tend to shy away from conflicts, while others tend to confront them. Some cultures encourage their members to conform, while others encourage their members to challenge.

Conflicts can occur between two or more individuals because of differences in personality, values, and opinions. When this type of conflict happens, conflict resolution techniques can be employed to help the parties find a peaceful solution to a disagreement. When the conflict is resolved, the two parties may walk away feeling somewhat or very satisfied.

Conflicts can also occur between two or more organizations or community groups. These conflicts may no longer be about individual differences, but also about divisions perpetuated by ignorance and intolerance, discrimination, and a history of fear and animosity. In such cases, conflict resolution between individuals may not be enough. The groups affected not only have to reconcile their differences; they also have to strengthen their ability to value each other, build alliances, and find common ground in order to change the systems that support their division. They have to transform their conflicts.

Conflict transformation, therefore, is the process whereby conflict is both resolved and used to build the capacity of groups to develop alliances that value equitable relationships, promote harmony, and effect systems change.

Why is transforming conflicts in diverse communities important?

In a diverse community composed of two or more ethnic, or cultural groups, conflicts are more likely to occur because of:

• Differences in group identity, which is shaped by the group's cultural values, history, socioeconomic status, and perceived power.
• History of hostile interaction and discrimination.
• Misinformed stereotypes and perceptions caused by prejudiced attitudes and other external influences (e.g., the media).

Transforming conflicts that stem from these causes takes time, patience, humility, a long-term commitment, and a willingness to trust and to take the risk of making mistakes. But the effort is well worth it because diversity enriches our lives and our communities, and diversity is not something you can eliminate. Global changes and natural disasters (climate change, earthquakes, hurricanes), war, economic downturns, and other factors cause different groups of people to move in and out of countries, states, cities, and communities. Conflict is dynamic and always evolving. Therefore, it is important to be able to transform conflicts to create and sustain stronger alliances and communities.

How can conflicts be transformed?

There are four basic steps to transforming conflict. Within each step, different methods can be used move the process toward a positive outcome. Remember, transforming conflict is a process, not a single event or activity. In practice, it is not always clear as to which step you and your group may be in. You may spend a lot of time working on one step before moving to the next step. You and several others may be ready to move to the next step, but the rest of the group may not. When this happens, don't try and move ahead without everyone. Try and work together to figure out what is holding some of the groups back and what it would take to move forward together. The most important function of these steps is to provide you with a general framework and direction for your effort and to remind you of certain components that have to be considered during the process.

• All groups that are affected by the conflict should acknowledge that there is a problem and commit to working together to deal with the conflict. (Acknowledgement)
• The root causes of the conflict should be identified, made explicit, and reconciled collectively by the groups. (Reconciliation)
• The groups involved should develop a common vision for what they can do together and how they can do it. (Envision and Strategize)
• The groups should determine what they need in order to sustain their ability to continue to work together to manage or eliminate the causes of the conflict, and to promote peace. (Sustain).

What are some of the techniques for helping groups acknowledge the problem and commit to working together?

• Facilitate a dialog between groups clarifying the conflict
• Present information to the groups to show them how they are all affected by a particular issue and how it serves their purpose to work together, or create a safe place where that dialog can be held.
• Bring leaders together who will publicly declare that it'’s time to deal with the issues rather than let a bad situation get worse.
• Hold sessions with group leaders to discuss the importance of reconciliation.
• Help draft a public commitment statement where groups promise to try to work out their differences.

Acknowledge and include the cultural traditions and resources that can contribute to or obstruct conflict transformation. For example, language differences can obstruct the process. At the same time, the social networks in a group that allows information to be spread quickly by word of mouth can be a resource for sharing knowledge

Can you think of any other ways to help the different groups in your community acknowledge the problem, commit to working together, and identify the root causes of their conflict?

Reconciliation: Reconciliation is an important part of the conflict transformation process. Reconciliation is difficult to define, but common themes include making amends and offering restoration in order to bring groups back together. The process may include offerings of reparation and redistribution as part of healing and admission that there may have been victims and perpetrators. There is often a need to forgive. With community reconciliation there may be a sense of community brokenness that needs to be repaired. Those who have committed some wrongs may seek some form of repentance and forgiveness. Reconciliation also suggests an atmosphere that allows participants to move past their differences.

Reconciliation requires that two or more groups develop trusting friendships, identify underlying causes of their conflict, work together to develop a common mission, and promote equity and justice. Reconciliation helps members of the conflicting groups to:

• See each other as individuals and not just as representatives of their group.
• Admit that injustice exists based on group differences.
• Make a personal and collective commitment to social change.
• Envision the future by coming together on common ground, while respecting people's rights to maintain their cultural traditions and values.
• Develop strategies to address structural racism.

There are various ways to do this, including:

• Create an intimate atmosphere for members of the groups to "eat, sleep, and play" together. Religious congregations that have diverse membership have played a key role in creating such an environment.
• Ask members of all the groups to share stories about their experiences with injustice. Sharing stories is an effective method to help dispel stereotypes and to personalize the positive and negative experiences that grow from each group’s identity. You can use a speak-out technique or a fish-bowl method where one group meets in the center and talks about their views on the conflict while the other groups sit in an outer circle to watch and listen, and then all the groups come together to discuss their observations and experiences.
• Convene the groups that are involved in the conflict to discuss their perceptions of the cause of their conflict and to identify what they can do together to address the problem.
• Launch a public education campaign that raises awareness about the root causes of the conflict (e.g., disparities between African Americans and European Americans due to institutionalized racism that perpetuates unequal treatment of the groups) and invite people to step forward to help eliminate the causes.
• Conduct an analysis of the structural relationships that contribute to the conflict (e.g., relationship between the lack of culturally competent mental healthcare and increased mental disorders among the Vietnamese refugee community).
• Invite the groups to participate in a cross-group perceptions exercise (e.g., ask each group to meet and pool ideas about how they view themselves, how they view another group, and how they think another group perceives them; use the information gathered to identify questions and lessons learned).

Envision and Strategize: It is important, as part of the conflict transformation process, to think ahead about the future. Remember, it is not just about resolving the conflict, but transforming the conflict in a way that results in an infrastructure to promote harmony and support equity in the community. You could conduct a "visioning" event or conference to provide the groups with a safe space for them to imagine, share, and articulate what they think is possible by working together across groups. This visioning process helps people to see how they share a common and connected future, and it gives people a chance to develop strategies for individual and collective action. It links their image of the future to concrete steps that they could take to make that image come alive.

You could ask participants to develop individual action plans for themselves and collective plans for two or more groups. It is critical that highly-skilled facilitators are engaged to conduct the visioning process in order to manage conflict and ensure that the participants move from dialogue to action.

During the visioning process, the following questions are essentially asked:

• Where are we now?
• Where are we going?
• Where do we want to be?
• How do we get there?
• What can we do individually and collectively?

Sustain: The effort will face many barriers that challenge its success. What are some ways for ensuring that the transformed conflicts and strengthened alliances can be sustained?

• Leadership support – Engage all levels of leadership (top, middle, and grassroots) in the process.
• Change agents – Establish and train a committee, task force, or special commission of change agents representing all the groups that are in conflict to call out and transform potential conflicts.
• Information dissemination – Use all the forms of media that appeal to the different groups (e.g., street theater, radio, television, music, ethnic newspapers) to continuously distribute images that show people from the conflicting groups working together.
• Evaluation – Evaluate, on a regular basis, the results of the alliances that have been strengthened through the conflict transformation process (e.g., new activities, projects, or resources that came about because of people working together across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups)
• Reflection and revisioning – Use the evaluation results to revisit the community's vision and to identify any necessary adjustments for future planning and actions.

The conflict transformation process can be summarized as one that moves people from reality to their desired future through a series of well-planned and intentional steps that began with an acknowledgement of injustice. The following table lays out the process with specific questions that can be used to guide the process strategies for each stage (adapted from Lederach, 1997).

What is happening today? Where is the conflict?	Who and what institutions need to be included in order to transform the conflict?	What does the future look like?
Which racial, ethnic, or cultural groups are immediately affected? If the conflict is not addressed, what are the consequences for each group? What are the most urgent needs? How is the conflict affected by the local political, social, and economic systems? What existing resources can be used at the top, middle, and grassroots leadership? What existing cultural traditions and resources can help or obstruct the conflict transformation process?	Who are or has the greatest potential to be bridge builders and change agents?   Who has respect, linkages, and knowledge within each racial, ethnic, or cultural group?   What additional knowledge and skills do the bridge builders, change agents, and leaders need to work across groups and to prepare for reconciliation?   What key social networks and organizations are or have the greatest potential for sustaining the alliances across groups and the infrastructure for transforming conflicts and promoting peace in the future?	What is the long-term vision for a diverse and harmonious community?   Who are the keepers of this vision (e.g., the media, elected leaders)?   What systemic changes are needed to achieve and support the vision?   What mechanisms exist or need to be developed to ensure that all the groups are included in decision- and policymaking?
Tools for Understanding Listening sessions Applied research Power analysis Public education campaign Speak-outs Caucusing Fish-bowl	Tools for Building Community Community organizing Leadership developmen Asset-mapping	Tools for Supporting the Effort Community visioning Coalition building Community advisory board Anti-racism workshops Evaluating

 

For those of you who work in diverse communities, you know that transforming conflicts is not an easy task. There are many challenges that can delay or obstruct the process. It is important for you and others to know what they are before you even embark on the journey. If you are not prepared to deal with challenges, your effort could end up creating expectations that cannot be met and consequently discourage community leaders and residents for further collaboration in the future.

What are some of the challenges in transforming conflicts?

It takes a lot of time and resources.

Don't underestimate the number of people who are committed and willing to volunteer for small tasks. As an example, the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, published a year-long series of articles related to racial disparities in response to the tensions felt by the cities' residents after the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles. As part of the articles, a mail-in coupon was included asking people and corporations who wanted to build a harmonious community to step forward. The response from the community was overwhelming; hence the Coming Together Project was conceived.

The forces that work against reconciliation, coalition building, and systems change are so overwhelming that it is easy to give up after an unsuccessful attempt to transform a conflict.

Break the strategies into smaller and more manageable tasks. Develop collective and individual action plans for each member and each group. Build in time to celebrate small successes.

Language is a major barrier when bringing together English-only speakers and people who have limited or no proficiency in English .

You, as the community builder, have to help the groups that are involved in the conflict recognize that language plays a role in maintaining power differences. Not understanding the dominant language decreases access to information, and information is power. There are at least two ways for handling this challenge. First, hire and ask translators to translate out loud after each person speaks. This method gets to be a little cumbersome if there are more than two languages involved. Second, purchase simultaneous translation equipment. You still have to hire translators, but the time is decreased because of the simultaneous translation. It is more efficient to use this equipment when you have more than two languages because some of the transmitters allow up to six channels for different languages.

In Summary

Conflict transformation is important in diverse communities to resolve conflicts and to promote peace among groups of different race, ethnicity, and culture. It is a process that takes time, patience, humility, a long-term commitment, and a willingness to trust and to take risks. The key components of the process are: the parties acknowledging the problem and committing to working together, identifying the root causes of the conflict and reconciling group differences, developing a common and connected future, and developing sustainable strategies and actions.